Juan Monroy — Outline: Lecture 3, Formation of Hollywood Studio System

Conclude on D.W. Griffith
- Worked as actor for Edison and Biograph
  - Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
  - compare with Life of an American Fireman
    - linear narrative
    - static camera
- Filmmaker
  - An Unseen Enemy
    - composition and editing creates a "see saw" effect
    - close up of gun
    - narrative flourishes
Motion Picture Patents Company
- The Trust
  - patents pool
    - Latham Loop from Biograph
    - Kodak motion picture film
  - controlled nearly all film production and distribution
    - approach film as supply for their machines
- Fall of the Trust
  - Kodak leaves MPPC in 1911
  - Rise of the Independents
    - Carl Laemmle
    - William Fox
    - Marcus Loew
    - Adolph Zukor
  - Exhibition
    - started as nickelodeon operators
  - Distribution
    - began to import films from outside of the Trust
  - Production
    - Eventually began producing their own films
  - Moved West to Southern California
    - abundant sunshine
    - cheap land
    - diverse terrain
    - myth: easy escape to Mexico
  - End of the Latham Loop patent
    - expires in 1913
  - US v. MPPC (1915)
    - anti-trust suit against the MPPC, beginning in 1912
    - Trust controlled as high as 80% of $100 million industry.
Rise of the Independents
- Redefined the Movies
  - Famous Actors
    - Sarah Bernhardt
  - Multi-reel Films
    - Queen Elizabeth (1912)
- Imported and Influenced by Italian Epics
  - Quo Vadis (1913)
  - Cabiria (1914)
- Begat a Movie Star System
  - Florence Lawrence
    - "Biograph Girl"
    - lured by Laemmle
    - rumored death
    - The new IMP girl in The Broken Bath (1910)
  - Theda Bara
    - The vamp
    - early movie sex symbol
    - daughter of French artistocrat and Egyptian mistress... or was she
  - Mary Pickford
    - America's sweetheart, despite being Canadian
    - started with Biograph
    - lured by Laemmle (to IMP) then Zukor (Paramount)
Vertical Integration
- Production
  - Movie factories
  - mass production
  - assembly line
  - interchangeable pieces
- Distribution
  - block booking
  - blind bidding
  - run-zone-clearance
  - price discrimination
- Exhibition
  - picture palaces
  - first-run houses
Studio System
- Moguls
- United Artists, 1919
  - new independents
  - Douglas Fairbanks
  - Mary Pickford
  - D.W. Griffith
  - Charlie Chaplin
- Big Three
  - Paramount
  - MGM-Lowe's
  - First National
- Little Three
  - Film Booking Office
  - Producer-Distributor's Corporation
  - Universal
  - Warner Brothers
  - Fox
The Cheat
- star is presented prominently
  - Fannie Ward
- chiaroscuro lighting
  - play of light and shadow not seen at the time